Ok, what's wrong with my picture?!!

[JakeJ]

Hi Gang,

Here is my sound card's calibration graph. It don't look right.



I'm running a P4 2.6 GHz, 2 gigs RAM, Windows XP Pro, SoundBlaster Live! first generation sound card, internal. My line in is connected to line out via stereo mini-to-mini. This is a desktop and there is a soundcard built into the motherboard but it is turned off in the BIOS. Gotta figure this issue out before connecting my Rat Shack SPL meter and doing a cal of that.

Suggestions, opinions, and, um....outright HELP is greatly appreciated.

I have to admit my extreme mental density as I spent the better part of three hours last night trying to cal the card and getting the "Signal level is -45.6 dB below blah, blah, blah" error message only to realize today that nothing worked last night because I hadn't rebooted. DUH!

TIA,
Jake

[brucek]

Gotta figure this issue out before connecting my Rat Shack SPL meter

Yep.

You'll have to show me a jpg of your Settings page first.

Also wouldn't mind seeing the Windows Recording and Playback mixer.

brucek

[JakeJ]

Hi Bruce,

Thanks for responding! I will get the images of those uploaded as soon as I get home from work (~5 PM PDT).

Additionally I have searched in vain for any "monitoring" enable/disable in the software but found nothing. I may not have the control needed as when I got this new(-ish) PC ~2 yrs ago I turned off the built-in sound and installed my ancient SoundBlaster Live! card and the software on the original disks is not compatible with XP. But XP did have some of the basic control legacy software built-in to it (I think). I will list what those programs are also.

Thanks again,
Jake

[JakeJ]

Sorry this is so late but life has a way of playing interference. Her e are the requested screen shots.





Thanks,
Jake

[brucek]

You need to mute everything in Playback except Wave. You have line-in enabled (not muted) in playback, so that's a monitor mode. The line-in is only enabled in Recording.

So basically, you want Master Volume enabled and then (Wave enabled in Playback and Line-in enabled in Record).

It's sometimes easier to look at the Windows Playback and Record Mixer screens to see what's happening.

Just right-click the speaker icon in your desktop System Tray and select open volume control.

Then select properties of either the Playback or Record Mixer. Here's a pic of them both..

Windows Playback Mixer


Windows Record Mixer


brucek

[JakeJ]

Hmmm...my reults were, uh, unsatisfactory.

[brucek]

So, you hooked up the loopback on the right channel and did the soundcard calibrate routine.

Did you have output level that looked correct on the VU meters during level setup?

Did you have input level that looked correct on the VU meters during level setup?

brucek